On this day in 1963, trombonist Granchan Moncur III recorded his first album, “Evolution” at Rudy Van Gelder’s Englewood Cliffs studio. The album was highly praised, but Granchan would only record eight more albums as a leader. 127 more words

After stints playing for Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Charles Mingus, whom he apparently once nearly stabbed in self-defense after Mingus punched him, plus a two-year (1956-7) stretch recording under his own name for Prestige, 1959’s… 354 more words

On this day in 1951, the great Miles Davis recorded Dig at Apex Stdio in New York City. The importance of the album is the fact that despite Miles’ creation of cool jazz just a couple of years earlier, he became indifferent to it and changed his style almost immediately and tinkered with styles that would eventually lead to the modal movement of the late fifties. 70 more words

On this day in 1963, Jackie McLean recorded the album Destination… Out! at the Van Gelder Studio at Englewood Cliffs. The album consists of four songs, one of the a McLean original (“Kahlil the Prophet”)–the other three were written by the session’s trombonist, Granchan Moncur III. 95 more words